Victorian community legal centres call for reforms to the DDA to move towards a more proactive and systemic approach to preventing discrimination and promoting inclusion. We support the reforms proposed by our members, including (but not limited to):
- introducing an enforceable positive duty to eliminate discrimination;
- expanding the regulatory powers of the Australian Human Rights Commission to ensure compliance;
- recognising intersectional discrimination;
- modernising definitions, clarifying legal tests and shifting the burden to duty holders;
- creating a standalone duty to make adjustments;
- improving and modernising disability standards;
- protecting the rights of students with a disability; and
- addressing discrimination in all interactions with police, corrections and child protection authorities.
The Federation is pleased to support the recommendations put forward to the Review by our members, who are expertly placed to provide practical and evidence-based reforms, informed by the lived experience of the people and communities they serve everyday. The following submissions have been provided by our members to the Department:
- Submission by Disability Discrimination Legal Service, a community legal centre that specialises in disability discrimination legal matters.
- Submission by Council of the Ageing and Senior Rights Victoria, a state-wide service dedicated to advancing the rights of older people and preventing elder abuse.
- Submission by South-East Monash Community Legal Service, a place-based community legal centre located in the South-East of Melbourne who regularly assists clients in disability discrimination matters.
- Submission by the Workers’ Rights Program (WRP) at Westjustice, informed by the experiences of our WRP clients with disabilities and those who have sought assistance with disability discrimination.
- Submission by the Police Accountability Project co-ordinated by Inner-Melbourne Community Legal.
We also support the Joint Statement from the Network for Disability Law Reform, and support calls for harmonisation and a National Human Rights Act.
Victorian community legal centres will continue to advocate for reforms to improve the experience of people with a disability in our legal system.
Yours sincerely,
redacted
Louisa Gibbs Chief Executive Officer
Federation of Community redacted www.fclc.org.au\
Legal Centres Victoria
Acknowledgements
SWAN acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which this submission was produced, the Wardandi Noongar people. We acknowledge the deep spiritual connection to this land and extend our respects to community members and Elders past and present.
About South West Autism Network (SWAN)
The South West Autism Network (SWAN) is a not-for-profit, community-led Disabled Persons and Families Organisation (DPFO) that has supported Autistic people and their families across the south-west of Western Australia for more than a decade.
With a registered membership of more than 2000 individuals, and hundreds more accessing our services, our core mission is to provide information, peer support, advocacy, and practical help. We work to build the capacity of people with disability and their families to navigate complex systems and participate in their communities on an equal basis, supporting people through diagnosis, post-diagnosis, and across the lifespan.
As a DPFO, all of our staff, volunteers, and Board members either have a disability, are a family member of a person with a disability, or both, ensuring that our work is authentically grounded in lived experience.
SWAN Disability Discrimination Act Review Submission Page | 2